It’s 3pm and you’re reaching for the chocolate, lollies, or cookies… again. You told yourself that you were going to eat healthier today, but here you are again in the pantry seeking out that sweet sweet sugar, driven to the packet by cravings so intense you can hardly control them. Once you take that first bite, you can’t stop. The sugar has a spell on you.

Does this sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone. The mothers I work with and support often express feeling this way when it comes to sugar, cravings, and control.

In this article, I’ll be covering:

• The driving forces behind your sugar cravings (5 most common reasons)
• Steps you can take today to overcome cravings and regain a sense of control

Disclaimer:

The information provided in this blog is for your personal or other non-commercial, educational purposes. It should not be considered as medical or professional advice. We recommend you consult with a GP or other healthcare professional before taking or omitting to take any action based on this blog. While the author uses best endeavours to provide accurate and true content, the author makes no guarantees or promises and assumes no liability regarding the accuracy, reliability or completeness of the information presented. The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this blog are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this blog is done at your own risk.

5 reasons you’re craving sugar 

1. Blood sugar imbalance (and low protein intake)

The moment I hear a mother describe her sugar cravings a flag goes up in my mind around blood sugar balance. Sugar cravings are a classic sign of imbalance in this area and the most common contributing factor to sugar cravings in the mums I support.

In particular, they often point towards something known as reactive hypoglycemia, which is best described as the phenomenon of ‘what goes up must come down’. When your blood sugar levels spike, or rise quickly and significantly, your body will work quickly to reduce levels back down to a normal range.

Both high and low blood sugar is considered to be bad news by the body and it will do everything in its power to normalise glucose levels. However, in its haste, our blood sugar-lowering mechanisms usually overshoot the mark and we end up with hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar.

When levels have dropped too low, symptoms like sugar cravings, intense hunger especially for carbohydrate-rich foods, shakiness, sweating, headaches, nausea, blurred vision, and brain fog are common. 

The craving for sugar or carb-rich foods is a mechanism that helps to bring blood sugar levels back up as quickly and directly as possible.

Protein plays a big role here (or rather, lack thereof). Protein helps to keep blood sugar stable, keep us feeling fuller for longer between meals, and when eaten in sufficient enough amounts, really helps to reduce cravings.

Many mothers are under-consuming protein. As a general recommendation, mothers should be aiming for a minimum of 100g/d of mostly bioavailable sources (you can read more about this here).

2. Sleep deprivation & exhaustion

I’d be willing to bet you know what it’s like to feel sleep deprived and exhausted. And you may have noticed that during these times, you gravitate towards sugary and carb-rich foods more and more the more exhausted you feel.

The influence of sleep on cravings is threefold and it’s observed in those with broken sleep from any cause, including of course waking babies and children.

When we’re sleep deprived, our blood sugar balance becomes impaired and, in an unfair turn of events, we need to be even more mindful about supporting this than ever before during a time when we’re more exhausted than ever before. This disrupted blood sugar balance contributes to cravings (described above).

On top of this, sleep deprivation increases the activity of cannabinoids in our central nervous system, decreasing our inhibition around food and increasing our desire for palatable foods (aka foods that taste great). Got the munchies, anyone?!

Finally, the fatigue itself of broken sleep is enough to drive your body to crave easy sources of energy, i.e. sugar, sweets, and simple carbohydrates.

Think of it like the Devil’s triangle of biochemistry aligning to trigger your cravings.

3. You’re eating the wrong types of food

Sometimes it just comes down to our food choices and eating the wrong types of food that are inherently going to drive or worsen our cravings.

We live in a food landscape that is saturated with ultra-processed and hyper palatable foods, many of which contain a mind-numbing combo of sugar (or simple carbs) + fat + salt. This combo is the ultimate sweet spot (no pun intended) for our brain and it makes it virtually impossible for us to resist or exert any willpower over these foods.

In short, it’s not you, it’s the food.

Your cravings are a by-product of the foods you’ve been eating; of the food environment you live in.

This combination (salt, sugar, fat) is not typically found together in foods in nature (nuts are perhaps the one exception, and even still they aren’t naturally very high in salt). Because of this, the processed foods we have unlimited access to override our normal appetite regulation mechanisms, resulting in us overeating them.

 I find this a fascinating topic personally and there are some great books exploring it in much more detail, including Mark Shatzker’s The Dorito Effect or Michael Moss’ Hooked or Salt, Sugar, Fat.

4. You want to feel good (dopamine)

Food is so much more than just nutrition. It’s connection, it’s fun, it’s social, and it’s family. And, importantly for many of us, it’s pleasure.

Food, especially processed foods that are higher in sugar, salt, and/or fat than any food found in nature, activate the pleasure centres in our brain which release the neurotransmitter dopamine and make us feeling blissed out and on a high.

At times, sugar cravings are a way of feeling pleasure, joy, happiness, or relief.

Put simply, it’s a reward.

If you’re someone who feels consumed by your sugar cravings, unable to control your impulse for sweets, and stuck in a pattern of eating you desperately want to change, it’s more than likely feel-good dopamine is involved with your cravings.

Dopamine is the neurotransmitter involved in addiction and sugar addiction is very real. Look out for other low dopamine symptoms that might point towards the dopamine chase of sugar cravings, such as low drive and motivation, low mood, apathy, fatigue regardless of good sleep, poor focus and concentration, and low libido.

Rewiring the dopamine pathways that are driving your cravings requires you to build new habits in place of the old ones. A lot of it comes down to habit on this particular front.

5. Gut health

A lesser known, yet still crucial reason you might be craving sugar is your digestive health, specifically the bacteria in your gut. The bacteria that make up our microbiome (aka the ecosystem of bacteria in the large bowel) have been found to influence cravings and food choices, with the overgrowth of certain types of bacteria have been associated with sugar cravings. 

Digestive health is a big topic to unpack. If you have any coexisting digestive symptoms (things like bloating, excessive gas or burping, irregular bowel motions, constipation, loose stools, reflux) then it might be something to consider understanding further and doing some microbiome balancing to return things to normal and reduce your cravings.

6. (Bonus) Nutrient deficiencies

No conversation about cravings would be complete without acknowledging the role that nutrients, particularly our micronutrients, play in regulating metabolism, appetite, and blood sugar.

The most important nutrients to consider include, first and foremost, magnesium, followed by chromium, protein, and the B-vitamins.

Overcome cravings with these steps

• Eat enough protein to keep blood sugar balanced – more resources on that here.

• Protect your sleep – while we can’t necessarily control how much sleep we’re getting in early motherhood, we can work on supporting our sleep quality

• Prioritise rest to reduce the load on your body and reduce exhaustion so your body doesn’t crave sugar so much

• Don’t keep any ‘avalanche foods’ in the house – these are the foods that you just cannot stop eating, e.g. the block of chocolate you can’t stop eating once you open it, or the packet of chips. If you know a certain food is a trigger, don’t keep it in the house. Once you get control of your cravings, you might be able to find a more moderate approach with these foods in the future

• Understand if you are more of a moderator or an abstainer – do you do better with more flexibility and freedom, or are you more black and white? Depending on which type you are, you may need a reset period with sugar and sweets, a period of abstinence (see the work of Gretchen Rubin here on this topic)

• Have some back up or contingency plan snack options on hand for when the cravings hit, ideally nourishing foods that provide you with some nutritional support while also satisfying that craving (while you work on underlying causes). These should be whole foods or real foods so you start moving away from the processed, hyper palatable foods, for example:
  • Natural yoghurt with berries (maybe a splash of honey or maple if you need)
  • Bliss balls
  • Dark chocolate
  • Smoothie with some source of protein
  • Or even better, something savoury like cheese and crackers or dips and veggie sticks

• Build new habits that give you a dopamine hit. This will be different for each of us, but it will likely be something you enjoy and something that makes you happy. When you get that sugar craving, see if you can do something else to get that reward hit, for example:
  • A few minutes on social media
  • Listen to your favourite song or music
  • Dance
  • Get some sunlight
  • Cuddle someone you love
  • Do something nice for someone else
  • Move your body, even just briefly
  • Read a few pages of a good book
  • Play a few minutes of a game you love
  • Play a musical instrument
  • Do some cooking or home organising
  • Or any other passion or hobby you have

• Consider supplements, as appropriate to your indivudal health
  • Magnesium
  • B-vitamins
  • Chromium
  • Myo-inositol
  • Herbal medicines for blood sugar balance and craving reduction:
    • Gymnena
    • Cinnamon
    • Berberine containing herbs
    • I always recommend getting professional advice for herbs to see what is right for you

Let me know in the comments below if any of these common reasons ring true for you and what steps you’re going to take to start overcoming your cravings today!

Disclaimer:

The information provided in this blog is for your personal or other non-commercial, educational purposes. It should not be considered as medical or professional advice. We recommend you consult with a GP or other healthcare professional before taking or omitting to take any action based on this blog. While the author uses best endeavours to provide accurate and true content, the author makes no guarantees or promises and assumes no liability regarding the accuracy, reliability or completeness of the information presented. The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this blog are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this blog is done at your own risk.